Run
by whenthemarshmallowmettheslayer
Summary: Ciel wakes up to the dead walking in what had been his home before it had been burnt down. (Or Ciel time travels. Warning for manga spoilers.)


The curtains are not opened, no steaming pot of tea filtering the air of his room, and it is those facts presented - or rather noted by his mind despite not having a sip of warm tea to waken him up - before him that make Ciel open his eyes. As he squints into the darkness of his room Ciel idly hypothesizes what could be keeping a demon from his job; it was too early for the Fowls, an avariciousness criminal Irish family with the crudely apparent motto Autum Potestas Est, to know the Queen had given the task of handling them. It was some other audacious fool then who had invaded his property. That or it could be that Sebastian had been distracted by a blasted stray cat that had wondered onto the Phantomhive estate. He better clean himself up if so, Ciel thought only for such optimism be pulled from out and under him quite brutally as his searching fingers felt nothing under his pillow. The servants explicitly knew they were not permitted entrance into his room and Ciel long ago had ordered Sebastian to never move his gun unless he was making Ciel's bed. Yet his fumbling, grasping fingers find nothing under his pillow. No hand carved handle nor a cold barrel to be found. Panic does not start upon Ciel, threatening to strangle coherent thoughts from him because of fear. It could be some demented jest that only Sebastian could find humor in, Ciel reasons only for his expression to become visibly grim, or it was something else.

Ciel has more than one weapon in his bedroom and that is what he intends to be his next course of action. First he swings his feet over the bed before he quietly stands up only that is not what happens. Ciel stumbles forward, knees crashing into the carpet, and his hands instinctively brought up to protect his face. What was this? What had just occurred? His questioning was repetitive but last time Ciel had checked he had not consumed any foreign cakes that had filched his size from him yet, none the less, he had fallen off his bed as though he was some fumbling, shy child again instead of the dignified Lord Phantomhive that he was. Ciel's temper was burning so he took a moment to breath deeply in before getting up and thinking upon his circumstances as he checked his room for another one of his weapons to arm himself with. Ciel's thoughts seemed coherent enough yet his body stumbled about as though his stature had grown a spurt leaving him once again fumbling about until he regained composure and control over his blasted body. Yet Ciel did not feel taller. Mayhaps he had been drugged as well as as disarmed. One did not feel tall. One simply was tall - emotion had nothing to do upon the matter.

A curse falls out from Ciel's lips as he was once against left empty handed; it was  
undignified for him to have said such words. Vulgarity was for the defeated or for drunks and Ciel was neither despite not only being left defenseless but this room not being his own. Ciel squints his eyes in the dark in search for anything that could work for arming himself until he could find an actual weapon. Because nothing stuck out to him Ciel then made his way the door. Much to Ciel's ire his captors had installed the handle above his height; briefly he couldn't but wonder if the fools had done so purposely. With thin lips and standing on his toes to reach it, Ciel tested the door knob. The surprise of it being opened didn't diminish his ire. Quietly Ciel opens it and exits his lousy imprisonment only to just stand at in the hallway. His eyes are not wide but he's sure his surprise his there naked on his face at the sight before him. Yes, Sebastian had rebuilt the Phantomhive manor from its ashes and burnt timber but even then there was in fact only so much even a demon could do. This. This was how Ciel's home had looked in his youth and now whoever was behind this trickery was going to face -

"Young master what are you doing up in such a hour?" Ciel, with his pounding heart in his throat, turns around to see Tanaka before him. He's old, Ciel thinks as he tries to get words out of his mouth with little to no avail. As much as Ciel doesn't like to think on it of course Tanaka is old (is dying) and therefore losing his memory. That or mayhaps this was some bitter sweet dream of happier days. With a chuckle Tanka places an old knee to the carpet as he peers down at Ciel with narrowed eyes.

"Ciel?" There's an inquiry in his gentle voice and it makes Ciel's heart drum even faster from a vulnerability, an Achilles' heel, which he doth detests. (He can hang the portrait of his parents in the foyer to look upon him but he's ridden the manor from any reminder of the deceased child who was his brother, his twin, his confidant.) "are you coming to stay with your brother tonight?"

The top of his teeth are tightly brought against the lower ones as Ciel tries to collect himself. Before he speaks Ciel brings two of his fingers to the opposite arm and proceeds to pinch a small portion of skin between the two nails. It stings; he is awake then. (That doesn't cross out drugs though.)

"Tanaka my brother is dead," despite the subject Ciel keeps his voice soft as he reminds the old butler of his twin's death. After all its not Tanaka fault he's lost his wit from age. (It's not sentimentality; it's not because years ago he had seen and called Tanaka his grandfather and, in return, the butler had gone beyond the duty of a servant and treated him as his own blood.) For a second eyebrows knit together as the words and their meaning are processed before the old butler picks Ciel up and takes off in a sprint as though a young, capable man instead of an old one. Before Ciel can even voice words the door he just exited is flung open and the light turned on.

"Where did you last see your brother?" It's a demand despite being a servant but Ciel pays it no mind because t-this was his room before the fire. It was had all the details he remembered in it and even some he could not recall until now when they are in front of him. It admittedly leaves him flabbergasted and Tanaka is shaking his shoulders to bring him out his mind. Ciel, in return, is shaking his head in denial of what is in front him as if such an action shall wake him up from this disturbing dream or rouse his coherency from whatever hallucinate drug he's been given. Eventually Ciel finds himself capable of words, "He's been dead for years."

It's a whisper instead of his usual confident tone because whatever this is it keeps leaving him shocked. Now Tanaka's eyebrows appear as though they're one single being instead of two as he looks down on Ciel. Despite that, Ciel notes, he looks relieved. "Did you have a nightmare? Your brother hasn't died. I saw him a few hours ago when I read to you both for the night."

Ciel neither replies nor acknowledges the man with a look because his eyes are on the room before him.

(He doesn't know what he's landed himself into so, with grim expression, Ciel simply keeps his mouth shut until this dream or hallucination ends.)

* * *

A/N: Originally posted on ao3 under the pen name youngjusticewriter.

Yes, it is time travel. I had this idea (or rather the question of what would our Ciel do if he woke up pre fire and would his contract still be in place?) weeks ago and I finished writing it today because I'm having a bad day and throwing myself in fanfiction (whether it be writing or reading) is one of my more healthier coping tendencies. Anyway, yes, I'm admittedly am interested in writing more but no promises. While I'm hoping we'll learn the name of No Name Phantomhive (I didn't come up with that nickname btw I read it on tumblr and it's stuck with me ever since) I'm starting to doubt we kinda ever will. That and I'm terrible on being faithful to one project (stupid brain). I have some many wip fics, series, and one shots to finish it's not even funny.


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